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FROM: Historic Cobbham Foundation Neighborhood Petition for Proposed Hotel Planned Development (C-N Zoning District) On behalf of Historic Cobbham Foundation (HCF) Board of Trustees, we acknowledge and appreciate the great care and accessibility the design team has provided for the 570 Prince Ave Planned Development application. After neighborhood meetings, public forums, and a review of the preliminary planned development application materials, we respectfully submit the following petition regarding the project currently under review. Our hope is that community feedback is helpful to the design efforts and can produce substantive improvements to the proposal. While we recognize the economic benefits of new lodging options in Athens, we believe the project in its current form—116 rooms and approximately 88,000 square feet—is out of scale with the surrounding environs, the intent of Commercial-Neighborhood (C-N) zoning district, and with precedent established by the Commission. Please note, in the requests below we state 87,753-sf. This number is provided on the application’s Site Plan. Square footage does not include the sub-surface structured parking. Our recommendations are as follows: 1. Scale and Zoning Consistency The current proposal (87,753-sq ft development / 116 rooms) far exceeds the size of comparable hotels located outside the downtown core. An 87,753-square-foot development is only consistent with dense, urban zoning contexts such as the Downtown Design Area, not neighborhood-scaled C-N districts. Typical hotel developments outside of downtown Athens average about 37,800 square feet [See Athens Hotel Data here] We propose that this project be right-sized to a maximum of 30,000–37,800 square feet, aligning it with both the purpose of C-N zoning and recent Commission actions (Rivet House waiver for 30k).
2. Site and Historic Preservation A conservation easement should be placed on the rear greenspace to provide a permanent natural buffer for the surrounding residential neighborhood. A preservation easement on the President’s House façade should be included to ensure that this contributing historic resource remains intact. We understand this would require a reduction in new construction square footage to satisfy the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties such that The Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation can hold the easement. The building footprint and massing should be redesigned to reduce visibility from the primary street frontage, maintaining the neighborhood’s scale and character.
3. Transportation and Operations Given the project’s location in a neighborhood commercial district with limited transportation capacity, we suggest the hotel incorporate the following to mitigate vehicle traffic and parking impacts: Provide valet parking to reduce on-site congestion. Valet route to offsite parking shall avoid local streets. Maintain a local in-town shuttle service for guests to access downtown, Five Points, and other nearby destinations without reliance on private vehicles. Operate a separate airport shuttle on high-demand weekends (e.g., gamedays) to reduce ride-share and taxi congestion. Offer guest bicycles and proactively encourage walking and biking, consistent with Athens-Clarke County’s Complete Streets and sustainability goals.
Conclusion By resizing the project to 30,000–37,800 square feet, protecting greenspace and historic resources through easements, and adopting operational practices that mitigate traffic, this development can better align with the purpose of C-N zoning and avoid setting an outsized precedent for future planned developments in Athens. We respectfully ask Planning Staff, Planning Commission, and Mayor & Commission to ensure that this project reflects both community context and established policy precedent, while still allowing
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